Bechers exhibition in London until March 28th '26

[noodleJam]

For lovers of the Hilla & Bernd Becher's work, Sprüth & Magers Gallery in Central London are hosting a collection circa 50 original prints.

Having visited a few times last week, it was a wonderful to see the tonality, quality, composition, clarity and beauty of the images.

Bernd & Hilla Becher - Bernd & Hilla Becher - London – Sprüth Magers

Sprüth Magers is pleased to present a solo exhibition featuring several groupings of the Bechers’ most recognisable archetypal forms: gas tanks, water towers, winding towers and framework houses. This will be their first solo exhibition at Sprüth Magers, London, in over a decade, marking the...

spruethmagers.com

 

[Ardpatrick]

I’ve loved these photographs for decades. Amazing.

But your link to the London show has me ponder something I haven’t really noticed before - the sheer blankness of the skys.

Obviously the Bechers were very careful about the light they shot in, and needless to say the darkroom work is immaculate. So I doubt that blankness is accidental. Midtones are moderate to lower contrast, and so I don’t think they were pushing film to blow out highlights. Maybe? I wonder did they shoot with a filter which would have the opposite effect to a yellow filter on skys? Or just carefully hold back the sky in printing? There is tonality there - a clear separation with the print border. But very little to no cloud.

Maybe someone more technically proficient might have already cracked this?